A question of counterintelligence

WASHINGTON — Federal agents searched the home and office of a veteran State Department diplomat last month as part of a counterintelligence investigation, government officials said Friday.

The diplomat, Robin Raphel, is a retired ambassador and an expert on Pakistan who was working under contract as an adviser to the State Department's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

After the FBI searches, Raphel was put on leave and her contract was allowed to expire.

Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman, said in a statement that the department “is cooperating with our law enforcement colleagues on this matter.”

The nature of the investigation is unclear. FBI counterintelligence agents track spies and look for signs of economic espionage or mishandling of classified documents.

The U.S. officials who confirmed the counterintelligence investigation didn't say whether Raphel is the target.

“She has not been told that she is the target,” said Andrew Rice, Raphel's spokesman. “Her nearly 40 years of public service at the highest levels of U.S. diplomacy speak for themselves. I'm confident this will be resolved.”

Raphel, 67, is well known in Washington foreign policy circles and among the State Department's highest-ranking female diplomats. She served as ambassador to Tunisia and as assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs in the Clinton administration.

Raphel retired from the Foreign Service in 2005 and in 2009 was hired by the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan to help administer billions of dollars of development aid to the country. She returned to Washington in 2011 to work as a senior adviser on Pakistan issues.

Raphel is the former wife of Arnold Raphel, who was serving as the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan in 1988 when he was killed in a mysterious plane crash.